"That's as fast as some trains," Tom said.
"Of course it averages much below that," continued Jim, "Probably it is going ten miles by here."
"We ought to make a hundred miles a day in some places, then," I said.
"You can't tell; sometimes we will have to walk," responded Jim.
"Walk!" exclaimed Tom. "How's that?"
"Well, climb would be the better word," he explained, "because we will come to rapids, where we will have to let it down by ropes while we are climbing along the cliffs."
"You might just as well try to hold a dozen runaway horses as that boat going down a steep rapid," protested Tom.
"That's so," said Jim and his face clouded as he thought it over. "Never mind, I'll back this craft to go through. 'The Captain' is no egg shell of a boat. All we will have to do is to hold on. You can't sink her and I tell you she's put together to stay."
"How do you think she will act in the current, being so much broader in the beam than at the bow?" asked Tom.
"You see if she isn't easier to steer than a flat bottomed scow," said Jim. "The way she is cut under fore and aft will help a whole lot. Then the logs being hollowed out makes her more buoyant."